How Much Is a Brand Worth?

What’s the dollar value of a company’s brand? If your brand is SAP, it’s worth more than $17 billion, according to corporate identity consultancy Interbrand’s list of 100 Best Global Brands, released Thursday.

SAP held firm at No. 25 since last year — ahead of eBay and Facebook — and SAP’s brand value jumped 4 percent year-over-year.

SAP’s brand value has risen 14 out of the 15 years that Interbrand has compiled its annual Best Global Brand reports.

The ranking seems to validate SAP’s decisive shift in focus toward simplicity, as well as cloud and Big Data technologies, which savvy consumers now solidly grasp. SAP’s sponsorship of the Super Bowl this year put the brand on display in New York’s Times Square and New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, highlighting how SAP solutions enhance the fan experience, according to Interbrand.

“Recent product launches indicate the brand is moving to a simpler naming convention, using more descriptive names to enhance the visibility of the SAP brand and provide a simpler, more consistent way to navigate offerings,” Interbrand stated. “While four consecutive years of double-digit growth have helped SAP cement itself as the fastest-growing mega-cap company in the enterprise software industry, marketing remains focused on demonstrating the company’s commitment to delivering a highly visible, purpose-centric brand.”

It’s All Connected

Consumers are connecting with each other and their favorite brands at an unprecedented scale via mobile devices, social media and more, according to Interbrand. So brands across all industries will have to improve the way people, products and devices interact — a space where SAP is already present, thanks its focus on the end-to-end experience.

“Brands that seek to lead in the forthcoming Age of You will have to create truly personalized and curated experiences, or what we call ‘Mecosystems,’ around each and every one of us,” Interbrand Global CEO Jez Frampton said in a statement. “Such brands will have to rehumanize the data, uncover genuine insights, and deliver against individual wants, needs, and desires.”

SAP’s brand value has risen 14 out of the 15 years that Interbrand has compiled these annual reports. The New York-based brand consultancy ranks companies by their ability to influence consumers, command a premium price and, of course, make money.

Show Me the Value!

SAP’s compounded annual growth rate beat those of other technology companies on Interbrand’s top 25.

Technology companies seem to be in the best position to make money. “The ‘tech-ing’ of Madison Avenue continues apace,” The New York Times said of Interbrand’s latest list. And other industries aren’t keeping up.

“These giant tech corporations easily beat out entertainment giants such as Disney and MTV, car companies Mercedes Benz and BMW, and high-value luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Cartier,” The Verge noted Thursday. “Coca-Cola still appears in third place, bumped to a bronze medal after Apple and Google ended the drink empire’s 13-year reign at the top of Interbrand’s list last year.”

The list is still a bit subjective, according to Interbrand, but the International Organization for Standardization has certified this first-of-its-kind analysis as accurate. So SAP’s customers, partners and employees can be confident of Interbrand’s $17.3 billion appraisal of the SAP brand.

“Through its focus on customers, employees and communities,” Interbrand stated, “the brand has mapped out a sustainable future, with a rich inventory of stories that tell how it improves lives and helps the world run more smoothly.”